About

$101,396

pledged of $3,000 goal

1,096

backers

What is a Challenge Coin?

Challenge coins started out as a military tradition. Members would have a nice coin featuring their unit logo and slogan, and they were also given out as tokens of respect or appreciation. The challenge part came in because whoever forgot their coin would have to buy the beer, but there are as many different traditions for the coins as there are different units in the military, and everybody does it differently.
Because challenge coins are cool, fun to collect, and good for morale, the tradition spread. Police departments have coins. Federal agencies have coins. Private companies have coins. Basically any entity that had a lot of pride of ownership/membership wanted a challenge coin. Having been a civilian contractor myself, they were everywhere, and the gun business absolutely loves them.
On a personal note, back when I was a state concealed weapons instructor I had a policy that if you were in the military, I taught your class for free. I was given a lot of challenge coins from various units as a token of appreciation. I’ve loved challenge coins ever since.

What is Monster Hunter International?

MHI is a company made up of teams of professional monster hunting contractors, and they are the basis for the Monster Hunter International series of novels from Baen Books. In the MHI world monsters are real, stopping them is big business, and business is booming. Because MHI is a company with a lot of pride and a long history (established 1895), it just makes sense that they would have a challenge coin tradition as well.
This Kickstarter project is to create a series of MHI themed challenge coins for fans of the series, gamers of the MHI RPG from Hero Games, the Monster Hunter Nation, or anyone who loves big shiny coins.

Designs

We're starting this off with the most iconic of images- the MHI 'smiley face' logo coin. As the project progresses and we hit certain stretch goals we'll unlock new designs (we have 12 in mind.)

(Please keep in mind that these are preliminary sketches and the final art will likely vary slightly.)

MHI Smiley Face Coin

Unlocked!

When we hit $7,000 we unlocked the next design- the MCB seal on one side, with their most (in)famous agent on the reverse.

When we hit $33,000 we unlocked the next design- everyone's favorite MHI Support members: Melvin and G-nome!

MHI Support Staff

Unlocked!

When we hit $38,000 we unlocked everyone's favorite heavy metal band Cabbage Point Killing Machine!

Hold the Pig Steady!

Unlocked!

When we hit $45k we unlocked the Correia Tech Combat Wombat Coin!

House Correia/Combat Wombat

Unlocked!

When we hit $50k we unlocked the Enchanted Forest Trailer Park coin!

the Official Holy Symbol of the EFTP elves

Unlocked!

When we hit $55k we unlocked the single most requested coin of the set. You asked for him, you got him: Earl Harbinger!

the King of the Werewolves

Unlocked!

When we hit $60k we set up the Backers' Choice Coin poll. That's where we allowed all of our backers to vote on the design they wanted to see and the one with the most votes got unlocked. The results are in and the winner by a landslide was the PUFF exemption coin! Final results were:

Democracy!

Here's the final version:

PUFF Exemption

Unlocked!

The one you've all been waiting for- Bubba Shackleford's Professional Monster Killers! (This is the one we've been waiting on artwork for- it's still not an exact match but it should give you the idea. The area that looks gray will actually be raised like on a standard monetary coin.) There is no inlay or anything else- it's just a nice, raised antique brass finish. (Seemed appropriate.) This was unlocked at... well whatever the stretch goal was you've already passed it! ;D These can be selected as one of your "any other coin of your choice"s and will be included to all Alpha tiers automatically.

Shackleford. Not Shackford.. we'll have that typo fixed before production!

+ + + + +

Introducing our first add-on:

The most requested MHI swag related item of all time (other than Abomination)- the official MHI Zippo® lighter! Engraved and color printed with the iconic MHI logo over a durable matte black finish this lighter is being made available to our backers for $45 ($40 for the lighter + $5 for shipping domestically.) (For international orders the total would be $50USD= $40 for the lighter + $10 shipping.) To add this to your order, all you need to do is up your pledge by the appropriate amount and when we send the survey after this project closes just indicate which add-ons you're after. (If you can leave us a comment telling us you've done so that would really help us figure out order quantities. Ideally, we want to have these ordered in time to ship with the coins and everything else in early December so you can get them in time for the holidays. Again we can't promise that, but we are going to do everything we can to do so.)

Words to live by...

2 More add ons:

We've had several people asking us about non-MHI coins so we've collaborated with cover artist extraordinaire Kurt Miller to offer these custom coins from Dead Six and Swords of Exodus.

Dead Six

Swords of Exodus

Due to our working with another artist and the custom shapes necessary for these, these are available as add ons only and are not offered as a part of the standard levels. These are available for $15/ea. To repeat the drill about add ons: to add these to your order, all you need to do is up your pledge by the appropriate amount and when we send the survey after this project closes just indicate which add-ons you're after. (If you can leave us a comment on Update # 7 telling us you've done so that would really help us figure out order quantities. Ideally, we want to have these ordered in time to ship with everything else in early December so you can get them in time for the holidays. Again we can't promise that, but we are going to do everything we can to do so.) Let us know what you think in the comments section!

(For those who can't see it, the quote on the bottom of the Swords of Exodus coin is: "The price of freedom is the willingness to do sudden battle anywhere, any time, and with utter recklessness. - Robert A. Heinlein")

Risks and challenges

We're working with a provider who has made millions of challenge coins for everything from the US military to the Boy Scouts and we don't see any real challenges on delivering in a timely fashion. (They're already seen most of the designs and can't wait to get started!) The biggest delay will likely be packaging and shipping but we have assembled a crack team of folks to help get these out to you in a timely fashion (our families) :) We are going to make every effort to get these out before Christmas, but due to the production side of things we can't guarantee delivery by that time. (We'll sure do our best, though.)

Support

Select this reward

Pledge $1 or more
About $1.00

Here's how you get your foot in the door- by donating one dollar this guarantees you access to the Pledge Manager. (As with ALL pledges, once this project closes you'll be able to increase your pledge to cover the cost of additional coins and shipping.) Can't commit yet but still want to see what's going on? It's just one dollar! Also, with this pledge you are an official supporter of the project, and can leave comments and send messages.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $150 or more
About $150

Team Alpha level- This gets you an official MHI smiley face challenge coin (serially numbered between 11-61) and one of every other coin we make (we'll do our best to match the numbers on the others as well, but can't promise a full matching set as we don't yet know quantities) Act now and we'll throw in an autographed hard cover first edition copy of Monster Hunter Legion PLUS Larry will even draw whatever you want under the autograph. (Please keep in mind Larry is an author and not a graphic artist so your results may vary.)
Your orders will also be the very first ones shipped out.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $150 or more
About $150

Team Alpha level went fast so we've added a follow up- Team Alpha 2: the Sequel.
This gets you an official MHI smiley face challenge coin (serially numbered between 62-92) and one of every other coin we make (we'll do our best to match the numbers on the others as well, but can't promise a full matching set as we don't yet know quantities) Act now and we'll throw in an autographed hard cover first edition copy of Monster Hunter Legion PLUS Larry will even draw whatever you want under the autograph. (Please keep in mind Larry is an author and not a graphic artist so your results may vary.) Your orders will also be the very first ones shipped out (after the original team Alpha).

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $150 or more
About $150

By overwhelming demand we are proud to announce Team Alpha 3: Dawn of the Return of the Bride of the Son of Team Alpha.
This gets you an official MHI smiley face challenge coin and one of every other coin we make (we'll do our best to match the numbers on the others as well, but can't promise a full matching set as we don't yet know quantities) Act now and we'll throw in all 3 of the official MHI patches (Smiley, Utah, and Team Haven.)
Your orders will also be given priority shipping (after the original team Alpha and Alpha 2).